Montana police have released a graphic dashcam video of a Billings police officer sobbing after killing an unarmed man who was high on methamphetamine last April. The jury in a coroner’s inquest found the officer was justified in the shooting.

Billings Police Officer Grant Morrison killed Richard Ramirez,
38, in April 2014 after he thought he saw Ramirez reach for a
gun. The victim was high on methamphetamine and riding in the
backseat of a red sedan. The footage of their interaction and
Morrison’s subsequent reaction was captured on the police car’s
dashboard-mounted camera.

Morrison pulled the car over, then told the four occupants to put
their hands up – a command he repeated seven times throughout the
incident. He realized quickly that Ramirez, whom he had met at
least once previously and who was suspected in a robbery and
shooting the previous night, was one of the passengers.

"What are you doing? Why are you moving your hands so
much?" Morrison says in the video. "Get your hands up. I
will shoot you. I will shoot you. Hands up!"

The five-year police veteran then fires into the car, hitting
Ramirez three times.

After the shooting, Morrison walks toward his vehicle before
appearing to collapse just off-screen. He can be heard saying,
“I thought he was going to pull a gun.”

Minutes later, another officer is seen attempting to comfort
Morrison as he begins sobbing on the hood of the patrol car with
his head in his hands.

Two bags containing a small amount of methamphetamine and a
syringe were later found near where Ramirez had been sitting,
News.com.au reported. The victim did not have any weapons,
however.

During a two-day coroner’s inquest, Morrison related the events
of the night.

“I shot him...I thought he was going to kill me,” he
told the seven-member jury, the Billings Gazette reported.

"I was getting very scared," Morrison said. "He
pulled away from me, and he again did the exact same thing. He
shoved his hand down to his side and started jiggling it up and
down. I told him I was going to shoot him if he didn't listen to
me and put his hands up."

The officer, who is now assigned as a prescription drug diversion
task force officer and is working with the Drug Enforcement
Administration, noted that he regretted killing Ramirez.

Dr. Tom Bennett, the forensic pathologist who performed the
autopsy, told the coroner’s jury that a toxicology test revealed
Ramirez had a dose of methamphetamine in his system that could be
lethal to some at the time of his death. But Bennett added that
the tests also indicated "chronic use" of meth and
suggested he'd built up a higher tolerance.

After deliberating for a little more than an hour, the panel
ruled that the shooting of Ramirez was a noncriminal, justifiable
homicide.

“The verdict of justified homicide reaffirms that our policy
procedure and training is properly aligned with state and federal
law,” Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said.

“I hasten to say that if it were not for the methamphetamine
nexus, we would not be here today,” he added.

"That ain't right, the way he died," Ramirez’s mother,
Betty Ramirez, told the Gazette. "I'm going to fight it, I'm
going to take it as far as I can get it. I'm not going to give
up."

The Yellowstone County Attorney is not expected to file any
charges after the jury's decision. However, the Ramirez family
said they intended to file a lawsuit accusing Morrison and the
Billings Police Department of racial profiling against the
half-Mexican man, the Associated Press reported. Under Montana
law, coroner’s inquests are required for officer-involved
shooting deaths or when someone dies in custody.

Morrison shot and killed another man in 2013. He was cleared of
any wrongdoing in that case.